Skiing: Boarding doesn't get much better

THE temperature in the Canadian Rockies has just dropped by around 20 degrees, but this is no freak meteorological thing. Colin from Reading has just asked our guides: "Don't you Americans ever stop for coffee?"

THE temperature in the Canadian Rockies has just dropped by around 20 degrees, but this is no freak meteorological thing. Colin from Reading has just asked our guides: "Don't you Americans ever stop for coffee?"

The facts that we are some 200 miles north of the 49th Parallel, and both of our trusted hosts had maple leaves on their suits, seem to have totally passed this computer salesman by.

And, needless to say, his lame defence: "Well, you're all from the American continent," did nothing to improve anyone's mood.

It was the first time I'd seen our hosts drop their perma-grins - and probably why it was another action-packed three hours before I and a flushed Colin finally got a break.

Anyway, however sensitive you are to people's national identity, there's certainly no doubt the Canadian Rockies are a backcountry heaven.

Smugger

The day before, a pal and I had taken the last lift up from the resort of Sunshine Village at 4pm and followed the trail up the ridge heading south. Sitting on top of the spectacular Simpson's Peak, we'd seldom been smugger.

The lifts, just visible on the other side of the valley, were motionless, and the only noises were being made by the fauna reclaiming the mountain as the light started to weaken.

Following eight hours of uninterrupted sun, you could smell the sap rising from the Norwegian Spruce carpeting the mountain below us.

The warmth had given the knee-deep powder a granular, spring feel, but the first field was steep enough to allow us to float through effortlessly. into the trees, as the pitch relaxed, the shade had kept the snow soft and dry, and, as our boards dipped, we accelerated into the tight turns of a gully the locals call Backdoor.

This particular off-piste canyon wound its way through the trees with the type of eddying progress that only a frozen stream-bed could possibly provide. Snowboarding doesn't get much better.

Buzzing

An hour's drive along the TransCanadian Highway from Calgary, the town of Banff provides skiers and boarders with a buzzing base to sample three areas.

The major areas of Lake Louise and Sunshine Village dwarf the modestly sized Norquay, but all three have their own character.

If you're just there for a week, then the chances are you'll only spend a day at Norquay. The Lone Pine is this area's signature run and offers skiers 1,300ft of heavy 35-degree moguls.

Lake Louise and Sunshine both have good facilities for beginners, top lift systems and fabulous snowsure conditions. But it won't be these qualities that tempt most skiers and boarders to endure the 11-hour flight from the UK and associated jetlag.

More likely it'll be that both areas offer exciting opportunities for advanced and intermediate riders to access genuine adventure.

In Europe, this type of exploration is dissuaded without a guide,but here the routes are frequently patrolled, and heavily blasted to counter avalanche risk. Access is actively encouraged.

Choicest

You'll need avalanche transceivers and shovels, to be allowed into the choicest of these spots, but you can hire these in Banff.

Don't expect the ski-to-your-door convenience of the Alps, though, if you stay in Banff. To get to Norquay means 15 minutes on the bus. And Sunshine and Lake Louise are some 20 and 45 minutes' drive up the TransCanadian Highway.

But, with the routes peppered with elk, deer, bald eagles and even moose - not to mention views of one of the world's most impressive mountain ranges - it's hard to call these transfers a chore.